Good things cooking

I know very little has changed except the number, but in the first three days of 2010, I already feel lighter, happier, just all around better than I did for the last nine or so months of 2009. The last few days I've just been bumbling around my apartment, unusually happy, optimistic - a feeling I barely recognized after the last year. Before going to bed last night, I found myself and giddy and full of gratitude - for no reason other than I feel like something significant has shifted. Even if it is only a page on the calendar.

My New Year's started early on Thursday, around 10:30 AM to be exact, when the six of us at the office popped open the first bottle of champagne. That led to a bottle of wine, which led to another bottle of champagne, which led to about an hour and a half of sobering up before I went to the gym. Hey - had to leave room for later. That night, my friend Lauren had a party, and since I had started earlier - and was driving - I had exactly two drinks and left at 12:15. It was a fun night - I just wanted to leave before having too much fun.

Friday morning I woke up at 7:30, watched three hours of BH90210 on Soap Net, then started to wonder what to do with the rest of my day. As I was cleaning the apartment, I got struck with an odd urge to cook, and so invited my friend Kim over for a Mexican fiesta. Keep in mind that I never cook, never have any desire to cook, and yet I could not think of anything I wanted to do more that day. So I went shopping for ingredients, and whipped up these yummy low fat chicken soft tacos that were actually more like chicken fajitas, and which required me to actually handle the raw chicken breasts, which for some reason, I actually did not mind. Um, hello? Who AM I? Certainly not this girl who had an emotional meltdown over buying the wrong breasts and actually having to touch them. Maybe 2010 Lori is turning over a new leaf.

Well, that might be optimistic, but I can't help but be reminded of how I'd always held kind of a disdain for yoga, until the one day I just woke up with the urge to do it. Is cooking the new yoga? Probably not, but if I see yummy tattooed Top Chef Michael Voltaggio one more time, I might have to start paying attention.

Because, yes, I saw him at the beach today, where it was 80 degrees and I went rollerblading with Miya to celebrate the weather. He was with his wife, and I'm surprised I even recognized him out of the element, but, like I said, maybe I just need to start paying attention. After rollerblading, Miya and I went to a beachside bar to grab a drink as the sun set, and ran into another friend. And that's a good way to sum up how this whole weekend has felt - random, fun, full of energy and good things on the horizon.

Thanks for continuing to join me on this journey, and happy 2010!